Second Battle of Fallujah

The Second Battle of Fallujah occurred from 7 November to 23 December 2004 during the Iraq War when the US, Iraqi government, and British forces launched an offensive against the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah. In some of the heaviest combat US Marine Corps soldiers had faced since the Battle of Hue in 1968, and in the first major battle of the Iraqi insurgency, Coalition forces secured Fallujah after a bloody battle.

Background
In April 2004, the US Marine Corps attempted to take back control of the city of Fallujah from the Iraqi insurgents in the "First Battle of Fallujah", but it ended on 28 April 2004 when the local population of Fallujah agreed to keep the insurgents out of the city. Ex-Ba'athist officer Muhammed Latif's 1,100-strong Fallujah Brigade was deployed to the city to keep the peace, but, by September 2004, they had turned over their weapons to the growing insurgent forces in the city. By 24 September 2004, the wanted JTJ terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was in command of the city and its 5,000 jihadist defenders, most of whom were non-Iraqis (including Chechen, Filipino, Saudi, Libyan, and Syrian combatants). These militants belonged to al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Islamic Army in Iraq, Ansar al-Sunnah, the 1920 Revolution Brigade, the Iraqi Ba'ath Party, and various other insurgent groups. The Coalition forces made plans to pacify the city and capture al-Zarqawi, and 300,000 civilians - 90% of the city's population - fled the city before the battle.

Battle
Before the battle, US and Iraqi forces set up security checkpoints around the city to prevent the Iraqi insurgents from escaping the impending assault. 6,500 US Marine Corps soldiers and 1,500 US Army troops would assault the city with 2,500 US Navy personnel serving in supporting roles, while 2,000 Iraqi Army troops and 850 British Army troops were sent to support the operation. The US Air Force provided close air support for the ground offensive, and the battle opened with an intense artillery barrage. The Coalition forces faced insurgents who had dug tunnels and trenches, prepared spider holes, and scattered IEDs across the city, and they first secured the main train station and the Hay Naib al-Dubat and al-Naziza districts. By nightfall on 9 November, the Marines had reached Highway 10 in the center of the city, and most of the fighting had subsided by 13 November. The US forces continued to face determined isolated resistance from insurgents hidden throughout the city, and they continued to mop up insurgent resistance until 23 December 2004. The battle had left 110 Coalition soldiers dead and 613 wounded, while the insurgents lost 2,000 dead and 1,500 captured. By January 2005, US combat troops had begun to leave Fallujah, and the local population returned to what was now a heavily-damaged city; 60 mosques which had been used as weapons caches were destroyed, and a fifth of the city's buildings were destroyed, while up to two-thirds of the other buildings were heavily damaged.